Friday, June 27, 2008

The Legend of Boggy Creek

Welcome to the BLOG! Movie of the Week. Here's another lost artifact from the primordial ooze, the 1972 swamp documentary THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK. It's a true story, well, it's based on a true story, anyway, or at least contains some elements of the truth, all about the denizens of Fouck, Arkansas who come face to face with a creature known as the Fouck monster. One part Bigfoot, one part Bullwinkle, he's a terrifying figure who howls plaintively into the night, frightening the heck out of the local citizenry.

This movie made a killing at the box office thanks to a scary ad campaign that packed 'em in, including a great trailer that promised a lot more than the movie delivered, but it got people to fork over their five bucks a carload to go see it in the first place...What I'm saying is that THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK is not the greatest movie in the world, but it's got a bigfoot in it, and if you saw this thing when you were a kid, it'll bring back a lot of memories.

THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK cost 100,000 dollars to make and grossed more than 20 million dollars. It was one of the first of the so-called Bigfoot movies, which led to more Bigfoot movies, including LEGEND OF BIGFOOT, IN SEARCH OF BIGFOOT, CURSE OF BIGFOOT, CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE, MANBEAST, HARRY & THE HENDERSONS, SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED, SASQUATCH ODDYSSEY, SASQUATCH HUNTERS, LITTLE BIGFOOT, LITTLE BIGFOOT 2: THE JOURNEY HOME, and NIGHT OF THE SASSY.

The film spawned two awful sequels: 1977's RETURN TO BOGGY CREEK was a G-rated adventure starring Dawn Wells, better known as Mary Ann on GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, and Dana Plato, the one-time child star who would go on to overdose in 1999. None of the creative team behind the original BOGGY CREEK had anything to do with the completely unrelated sequel, but director Charles B. Pierce returned to the subject in 1988's vaguely related THE BARBARIC BEAST OF BOGGY CREEK II, also known as BOGGY CREEK II: THE LEGEND CONTINUES, a film you may remember seeing on MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000.

THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK is pretty lousy, but not that bad compared to the other two BOGGY flicks. And, if you happened to be crammed into the family station wagon down at the local drive-in back in '72, and witnessed this movie at an impressionable age, well, you might enjoy another viewing.